EP Grab Bag vol. 101

Back to basics with 101. One of the main things I've enjoyed about writing this blog over the years is the combination of new and returning artists that I get to experience. Hearing evolution and new beginnings all the time. So with that in mind here are a few new artists to the blog and a couple of returning favorites.

To be had here:

Lindberg Hotel - Cotton Chains (2015)

The second entry from this lo-fi band out of Curitiba, Brazil.  Do check out their prior work, but I can't imagine a better introduction to the band than this EP. Has three new songs and two covers, including an exceptionally good cover of the Velvet Underground's "I'll Be Your Mirror." Now, the first three tracks with you having them pegged as a power pop outfit that can do a fine cover, but listen to the final two to hear how warped and experimental they can be. A fine juxtaposition and some really really good musicianship.

Cities - Manning Alaska EP (2015)

A stunningly done post-rock experience from a Welsh band. The EP is remarkably accessible, even for the those who don't often listen to post-rock. This is because the songs are quick while being equally spacey and jazzy. The technically precision is akin to my buddy Frankacles's band Jura. I don't say this lightly, as Jura really had their ducks in a row. Not an album to be missed by most anyone, but certainly a must-hear for the post-rock fans.

Nevski - Nevski (2015)

French pop music is some of the damned best stuff ever. I always make sure there's a heathy supply of it playing at any place I work and any party where I can chose music at. That said, Nevski is not making a knock off of yé-yé from the 1960s, rather is a charming display of modern indie pop that happens to be sung in lovely French lyrics. The songs are all impeccable with some light, air musicianship and soft, sweet vocals. Really the sort of music that sells itself, just give it a listen.

Bicycle Day - City Streets (2015)

Here's a special treat, a new EP from Oakland's Bicycle Day. Some of you might recall their full-length, I Had A Place To Be, which came out July of 2014. A wonderful example of hazy garage rock causing me to eagerly look forward to hearing this new release. These four songs do nothing to disappoint, being fuzzy gems of post-punk-ish, droning rock. The track "Self-Help" has been my jam all day, and I doubt it'll stop being so quickly.

YONI YUM - Clam Glam (2015)

The second time I'm writing of this band as well. YONI YUM still very much strike me as an art rock project, albeit of an incredible self-aware and irreverent variety. The songs are catchy and the singer is remarkably talented at belting out all sorts of entertaining vocal flourishes. I listening to it while reading the Russian Futurist writings of Daniil Kharms and it was amazing how well these two different version of eccentric artistic expression gelled.

Sarah Mikovski - Sarah Mikovski (2014)

This is admitted outside the the usual fare on this blog, but not something I think many of the readership will dislike. At least that's my hope in posting it up. I came across this album while putting together the Scenes of a City post of Lyon, France yet it didn't seem to gel with the other music on that post, in fact as I suggested, with most of the lo-fi rock and adjacent genres I normally cover. Nevertheless, it is an album I could not ignore and found myself desiring to hear it has it popped back into my mind even days after writing the Lyon post.

I've got a soft spot of French singing. Partly because my French is so awful I can't understand more than a few words in any given song, and partly for the same reason French is held as a romantic and poetic language in general, at least by those not raised speaking and reading it. It isn't the only language for which I harbor mawkish feelings, but it is the only I have the longest relationship with and the only one I half-assedly tried to learn. There are many adolescent memories listening to Serge Gainsbourg and Françoise Hardy, loving the chason pop and the sweetness of yé-yé girls. My wish isn't to conflate Sarah Mikovski with those musicians, but like most truly popular the sounds of have permeated our minds and becomes a point of departure for new music, even if we only impose it there as a listener. Of course, her songs are pop music meant to be sung in French and therefore shares that very board lineage of chason and she does it fabulously.

This self-titled release is only an EP if judged by length, only being about 20 minutes. However, that is if you only hear it once through, which I can't imagine how one would manage that. I didn't even make it past the first song "Au bord de la Seine" without having to put down my book and restart the track. And it isn't the only song get me to do that, I was already repeating reactions with the second tune. Her soulful and swift singing, the eletro-pop beats that recall Stereo Total,  is fascinating to hear, and while it has many trapping of popular music and little of it will be surprising as elements, yet it never that way with pop. The whole song, the meshing of the various influences and borrowed affectations into a fresh auditory experience is all that matters. Sarah Mikovski has masterfully produced this effect and it is addictively good.

To be had here:
Sarah Mikovski - Sarah Mikovski 

Scenes Of A City, Vol 4. Lyon, France

If I never mentioned it before I am a fan of learning history. While I own mostly stacks of novels and short stories written by dead old Europeans, strange Latin Americans and tormented Asians I began gathering knowledge of these other parts of the world in the more conventional source of history texts. This lead to a geography fascination, as I poured through the maps and lists of historic events and stored away the important sites of battles, the economic hubs and political capitals of the world. Yet with all my unsophisticated research as a juvenile I don't know much about Lyon, France beyond it being the second largest city in that country. While, a city of that size in such a culturally powerful nation can't be sitting on its hunches, so I wanted to see what music they were playing there other than what I am sure have been at least a half dozen bands that submitted releases from there, as France does like to submit the tunes.

To be had here:

Hugo Clarence - The Ocean Tape (2014)

This artist was the instigating factor that caused be to pick Lyon for this Scenes of a City. As Hugo Clarence has a track called "Porto City" and you may recall that was the previously featured municipality. This turned me onto his slightly more recent release, The Ocean Tape. Echoey, psych-tinged naturalismo mixed with bluesy alt country, if you can grasp that. The songs will remind one of style that regained popularity with the likes of Devendra Banhart, who I still enjoy listening to. Plus this includes a sent up to Hank Williams, which is pretty legit.

Ouiouioui - Oui Oui Oui (2014)

With such affirming names it seems this EP was bound to be pleasing. It's electro-pop, as stated on the the gentleman with an eyeball for a mouth's suit coat. Slower in tempo than you may expect, the tracks are sort of simmering just below a boil most of the time with lovely beats and imaginative instrumentation. The songs never reach a fever pitch, instead they keep a wonderful balance between a down tempo and a flashy electronic freakout. Ultimately it has a cinematic feeling, with light tension being a driving element.

Strange Milk - The Odd One Out (2013)

There's nothing about this band that would make one assume they're from France at all. They sing in English and they play like a band from Athens, GA, Austin, TX or name your college town with good tunes of choice. Nonetheless, Strange Milk lives in Lyon from what I can tell, even playing shows with French garage rock favorites, Qúetzal Snåkes. Their charming psych-pop that fits so neatly into what I have been desiring to hear lately I'm have a hard time moving on to another band from Lyon to write about.

MALAÏSE - MALAÏSE (2014?)

An album to shake you out of your complacency from how easy-going everything on this post has been so far. This album is a rather heavy and full sounding post-punk release befitting a band with an umlaut, or more accurately a tréma as they are French. Again, sung in English which I'm told is the language of rock and roll, and who am I to fret over the fact I can theoretically understand what the mighty female vocalist is singing? I can't for the record, it is beautifully washed out with the wall-of-sound and loud guitars. Also, it is another album tagged "cold wave" so I guess I am getting down on that sound.

EP Grab Bag vol. 68

I always feel very productive after I finish an EP Grab Bag, but I guess that is just imaginary it really just means I sat around and listened to a bunch of music. Does make me feel more worldly when I can get a large geographic span covered in the EPs, so that's something. Oh, and the music, the music is fucking good, that's why I do it, right?

To be had here:
Druggy Pizza - Chili Cheese Crust (2014)

This is the solo moniker of Cédric of most righteous French garage rock band Dusty Mush. I must imagine any diligent follower of SRM would be sold just by that, but in case you're head is in the sand I'll tell you more. Chili Cheese Crust are six short and loud tracks of very fuzzed out garage rock with lyrics that cannot be understood and moaning keyboard playing. Basically, the exact kind of squalid rock and roll that I thrive on. In particular give a listen to the amazing song, "I'm Cramped" for its simple effectiveness. Mind you this is his third EP as Druggy Pizza, so there's more to eat up.

Nick Oleksiak - Carrie (2014)

This is an EP I found when looking around on bandcamp. Carrie is five songs by a young man from Detroit that is studying music in Cincinnati (I guess they know shit down there). It is rather hard to describe the music generically, he even goes to the length to tag it "whatever i feel like" but it is certainly electronic pop music of some sort. Has a new wave-ish feeling. Perhaps one could call it  an updated 80s/post-disco thing. Whatever the fuck it is I caught my attention, the first and final songs of the EP in particular.

Boards - Care & Handling (2014)

A Norwich-based musical project with very stripped down instrumentation. Blends acoustic guitar and a few accompanying instruments with light electronic tones and beats. So in a reversal of my usual stance on vocals, it is really the singing that carries this EP from being a competent yet humble ambient release into something more beautiful. The overall effect of the songs is a mesmerizing calm, like a mediative piece, so when a spoken word story appears in the midst of the eponymous track I was very willing to hear it. Excellently done.


Garrett Linck and JESSIE'S BREATH - /Split/ (2014)

Garrett Linck, who you might recall from his solo work and in babydog, is back with a track on the two song split with another musician that goes by Jessie's Breath. Linck's track is a folksy indie rock tune that is very catchy as has become expected from that dude. Jessie's Breath matches it with his own lo-fi folk tune that's every inch as charming. Good combination for a split and looking forward to hearing more from each of these songwriters.

El General Villamil - Archipiélago 32' (2014)

This is basically an addendum to Amazing Larry's post of the city of Guayaquil, Ecuador. He found four really great acts from that city, and I was downloading them the other day and trying to see if I wanted to make an episode of the podcast out of the bands and I saw these guys pop up. More fucking garage rock that was so good I could not help myself but add it here. Old of my favorite parts is how on the bandcamp page they have an explaination of their name in Spanish even I can decipher: "El General Villamil fue el conquistador y primer gobernador del Archipiélago Galápagos en 1832"

Magnus Dewi - Earth Plates (2014)

I get grumpy about writing up music at times. At these times I'll become detached from this blog, or at best write some reviews that are less reviews than me musing about myself. Check out the Leggy and Menschliche Energie posts to see that for yourself. And I liked those albums, liked them very much, mind you. Just didn't get my fucking kicks, looking like I can write or whatever by just describing the music. Well, this time I don't think I have enough words to tell you what the music is about. Magnus Dewi is the moniker used by a Frenchman play a music style that is of a decidedly American origin. So here is my attempt to explain that statement and turn a few people onto a genre of music I hold especially dear and this new French practitioner of it.

Earth Plates is tagged "american primitive" on the bandcamp page, which immediately caught my eye as this is the name given the style of playing done by a personal favorite musician of mine and something of a cultural hero in my life, John Fahey. This man was many things, but perhaps most centrally to this story is that he was a musician that came into adulthood in the period of the 1960s where in folk and blues revivals were gaining tremendous popularity in the United States. Fahey possessed a vast knowledge of American music of all sorts as a record collector, musicologist and songwriter and he didn't want to pigeonhole his music as "folk" like many of his contemporaries. He incorporated much more than the American folk tradition, pulling from the blues, gospel, bluegrass in the era that provided us with our modern conception of psychedelia to make a raw, essential American music. This has been called American Primitivism and has a listen of adherents to the form, but I still find Fahey's the supreme example. It isn't simple by any means, most of the best songs are long numbers that have a droning element in how this use repetition and variation to a degree that parallels the best of avant-garde psychedelic music.

For this to have traveled to Europe and been taken up by a skilled French musician is perhaps one of the more amazing and delightful features of this over globalizing world the internet is pushing us toward. Magnus Dewi has a stripped down, pure sort of interoperation of the style on this album. So skillfully are the songs played if given the album without context I could have mistook for an established player in the American Primitive pantheon like James Blackshaw or Leo Kottke. Earth Plates is an absolute delight to hear and I have already been lost of hours in repeated listening of this magnificence effort.

In case any of you wondered how I found this, it was a submitted album just like the dozens of others that come in every month. Good on Magnus Dewi for finding me, as I don't know if he heard me go off about John Fahey for several minutes on one of the earlier episodes of the podcast and how I find so much in his personal story, connection to entho-musicology and the sublimeness of his playing to be inspired by. Anything that invokes that strong attachment is wonderful, but to have a musician that can live up to that remarkably high standard is the truly exceptional aspect of this experience for me. So don't hesitate any longer and give a listen to Earth Plates by Magnus Dewi, put out by the Vilaine Mouche label.

To be had here:
Magnus Dewi - Earth Plates

EP Grab Bag vol. 67

So here is a really mixed selection of EPs, some in genres I have not so much experience in and others basically what many could have come to expect from me. They say it is good to try to new things, I am not so sure, but seeing as I did it already for you and these ones I could get down with in some way you may as well take my word for them.

To be had here:
Killer Ghost! - Sad Boys Magic Club (2014)

A new EP from the fantastic Seattle band Killer Ghost! If you recall when I posted a group of their EPs, this band features musicians I've been down with for a while, as some where in the Fun Guns. Both of these bands are among the most played on my iPod, especially if I have the misfortune to be trapped in a car. To simply explain why I like their lo-fi rock and roll so much would be like trying to explain a taco to a weirdo that never ate one. They're are so many parts one can point out, but the real gist is that they are just the fucking best.

Cozy Catastrophes - Way Last June (2014)

Cozy Catastrophes are an group from Indiana that've got an EP released on the transatlantic label, February Records. They play sweetly composed indie pop that has a sugary quality that reminds me of Australian twee pop bands like the Lucksmiths and the Mabels. They aren't even slightly a rock band like those groups though, but veer into electro-pop with the amount of effected vocals and synthesized beats. The songs are catchy, and I found lead track "Always Say Never To Always " to be especially so.

Macsen - Clara EP 

Mascsen is a new electronic musician, having just released this debut EP of house tunes with help from Mickey Valen. Specifically it was called "tropical house / disco house" in the submission, which seems applicable as far as I can tell. I am not usually a listener of house, but every now and then, weather permitting I can get down with it. So as the heat of this summer has cooled off just enough o making the outdoors less oppressive I've been enjoying this EP on my headphones on a hammock, perhaps not what it is meant for, yet it's good for it.

The Wild Ones - Nasty Habits (2013)

This is something I found kicking around on bandcamp when I couldn't get to sleep. The EP is from last summer, but since when are summer's all the different? Anyhow, it is an all female group for Santa Cruz, CA (which'll seem familiar to another writer on this blog). The songs are short, garage pop tunes with sweet lyrics about infatuation and being fucking cool. If you liked the Silkies EP from back in Grab Bag 57, you'll be down for this more than likely.

Monster Surprise - Hiii! (2014)

Now to round this baby off with something bizarre from Paris, France. Monster Surprise makes psych-pop with an almost creepy vibe that unsettles as much as it entertains at times, but it is overall a charming EP that has some well written tunes dressed up with oddness. I believe they are attempting to be provoking with how they went about composing the tracks, and to that end they succeeded rather well. It is a good start, and could very well be the first steps of a band that could make something freaky and awesome in the vein of Elephant 6 or some other reference I don't have...

EP Grab Bag vol. 66

The latest selections of EPs that I've heard. An assortment of submitted material and my explorations of labels that I've found interesting from prior submissions and poking around in the catalogs of. I feel like between Elvis and I that we burn right through the EPs we get sent, so I particular encourage you to send your band's EP in or tell your music making pals about it. They don't even have to be especially new, but it helps if they sound fucking sweet. Naturally, these are not in any order other than just what I clicked on first.

To be had here:

The Madcaps - The Madcaps (2014)

To begin with a French lo-fi garage punk band, which is nearly without question something I'd be down to fuck around with. This EP was put out by the French label, Howlin' Banana that you might recall from the last Grab Bag with Qúetzal Snåkes. So anyway, this Rennes-based group has a far more retro sound that will invoke the 60s pop and rock. The songs are even sung in English, which lends to the feeling of mimicking the British Invasion. However I think it is in an irreverent, tongue-in-cheek attitude based on the lyrics. Yet all that said, I cannot deny for a fucking second that they songs are absolutely fucking amazing.

The Cruelest Animal - After The Waves Devour Us All (2014)

A submitted EP from a Los Angeles band that makes some heavy-duty tunes. Combining aspects of electronica and metal with things I am too oblivious to recognize these guys have made some music that is intense, full and as rhythmic as it is dissonant at times. It kinda sounded like club music for robots and hulks, and that is to say the only sort of club music there ever need be. I mean this shit got me pumped up in unexpected ways and each time left me thinking it could've been longer and I would have just kept liking it.

Pain Dimension - Brainwash (2014)

Bopping right back to France with this Parisian band. These guys have been associated with Cheap Miami, a label that is endearing itself to me every week lately. This EP is made up of fuzzy, loose psychedelia bringing constant bass, flailing guitar and distorted singing. Bluesy, incomprehensible, bass-heavy and energized enough to shoot a rocket into the air. This fits right into the sweet, sweet void that my soul has and makes me forget troubles. My motherfucking bread and butter, dogs. For real, I think if my heart beat to these rhythms I'd be a superman.

Calliope - ORBIS (2014)

Now I drop the closest to my home we'll get today with fellow Midwesterners from Milwaukee. When I put this release on for the first time I was like "yeah, could dig this..." and by the second track I was already thinking "shit, this is really damn fine." The vaguely country-punk vocals really charmed me utterly. Then the instrumentation's softly psychedelic vibe with a bluesy and purposefully retro sound sold me completely on Calliope. I must imagine to see them live is a real treat, and I don't mean that to take a thing away from the wondrous recording they've got here.

EP Grab Bag vol. 65

This a damned epic EP Grab Bag. Not that I don't like what I've put of others, I wouldn't bother to write it up if I disliked it, but these songs all hit my ears at the right time, with me throughly yearning for some garage punk and psychedelic that makes up so much of my musical diet. So like a boozehound with a bottle of jack, I gulped all these EPs right up and this is what I can recall from the fantastic experience.

To be had here:

Divided Minds - Strangers EP (2014)

Another lo-fi punk rock release from Zagreb's Doomtown Records. You may recall the Modern Delusions album I wrote up a few weeks ago, and if you liked that this is most certainly a must listen for you. Four short, fast and relatively roughly hewn tracks that excellently convey anexity without getting whiney. Sounds very much like old school punk of the 70s, guitar heavy and very quick and clamorous drums. There'll be more to come from Doomtown's awesome catalog soon enough as well.

Qúetzal Snåkes - Lovely Sort of Death EP (2014)

Here is a most fucking amazing EP from French garage rockers with a very metal looking name. However, the music isn't metal at all, rather it is psychedelic garage rock that mixes dreamy, hypnotic rhythms in with fuzzy guitar playing. After having taken a spill off my bicycle last night and being rather battered and sore, this music is exactly what I wanna hear in lieu of any actual drugs to take my mind stinging in my hands. It seems rather likely that you can enjoy it without getting hurt as well. A damned fine EP for sure. Stream on BC but you can buy it on vinyl from Howlin' Banana for ten Euros.

Lazy Aftershow - The Gutter Tapes (2014)

Here is a fresh release from a recently written-up Greek psychedelic band from Thessaloniki. Or perhaps you heard a track of theirs on a recent episode of the podcast. Naturally, should you have enjoyed those this will surely tickle your fancy. Moreover, this is a sweet peaking of my use of music as drugs, with the very krautrock yet folksy psychedelic guitar noodling and steadily beating percussion. A damned fine follow up to the album they put out last year that excellent met my desire to hear more from these fellas. "Sunshine Over Grass Fields" is a winner for sure.

Local Onlys - Mt. Wister EP (2014)

Local Onlys are from a city I've had my eye on for some time as a city perhaps a bit less shitty than mine but not too nice so as to weird me out, Philadelphia. They're trio of garage punks who've put together a remarkably catchy EP of short rock numbers. And yes, they've got the angst, but seem to be dealing with it in an keenly humorous lyrical content and some of the fucking most cheerful guitar I've heard it some time from a punk outfit. Amazingly fine, especially for only a second EP from some college students.

baby dog - hinterlude (2014)

Gotta come down from that rocking high at some point, but why not ease yourself down with some emo rock from a band with the somewhat upsetting name of baby dog? I did it and I liked it as a throw back to what I recall the late 90s as, but like most things from the late 90s, this is a bit better than I remember shit being back then. I guess I got to hear this with my ass in a seat with a beer though instead of standing in a hot room with stupid kids like me. Plus this has got Garrett Linck whose music I've happy reviewed before, so trust him if not me.

HenrySpenncer - Saturn (2012)

Parisian psychedelic space-cowboy HenrySpenncer is back at it, and about to drop a new record on French label Bookmaker Records. At the heart of Spenncer’s work is morose drones, but what separates him from an overly large field of musicians is his staple guitar compositions. His tracks are deeply grounded by this playing that takes equal parts from Pink Floyd and reverb soaked country hooks, which takes his music out of the “drones as atmosphere” into full fledged arrangements. He has put out a number of releases in the past, but this upcoming release is the first to be professionally recorded (at Holy Mountain Studio in London to boot), and worth looking out for when it drops this coming winter.

Get it here:

Henry Spenncer - Discography 

Irureta - 100% Pure Sport (2012)

Everything about Irureta points to them being a French band, but I can’t for the life of me pin down if that’s true or not. The good folks at Teflon Beast Records released this prog-heavy pop record just a few months back, and I have enjoyed the cassette tape since receiving it. With the exception of the French sound clips tastefully placed during intros, the record is made up of psychedelic jamming that is sure to impress anyone who happens to read this blog consistently. L'Arret Gite Ethnique/Patinage Mental is still my favorite track off this full length, with its winding synthesizer and pulsing bass line preserving my interest for the duration of the 6 minute jam. Well worth a listen, even if you can't buy the cassette.

Get it here: Irureta - 100% Pure Sport (2012)